Spot Him In A Crowd
by Eternal Love Song
Summary: Jirou and Shinso keep seeing each other at house shows, but something keeps them from meeting. That is, until someone else takes matters into their own hands.


The first time, Jirou didn't think anything of it. The lights were low, the bass was loud, and Kaminari and Mina were jumping up and down around her, keeping her view mostly obscured. It was only a moment, a glimpse of purple hair among the crowd that she saw when her friends moved out of sight for a moment. The crowd parted, offering her a clear view in time for their eyes to meet, for them to both be surprised to see the other, before Mina jumped on her, pushing her forward and making her lose sight of him.

"What are you looking at?" Mina screamed in her ear, forgetting that Jirou would be able to hear her just fine.

"I thought I saw Shinso," she answered.

"What?" Mina yelled.

Jirou looked around her, but she couldn't see anyone in the crowd anymore. "Never mind," she said louder for her friend's benefit. Mina smiled at her as she gave her attention fully back to the music.

But the time the concert was winding down and the three of them started to leave, Jirou had already forgotten it.

* * *

The second time it happened, Kaminari pointed it out to her. He grabbed her arm excitedly, shaking her and pointing. "Hey, look! It's Shinso!"

She turned to look in the direction that he was pointing, just barely being able to make out the wild tuffs of purple hair in the crowd. "So, what about it?" she questioned.

"Hey! Shinso!" He yelled loudly, waving his arms to get his attention.

To her surprise, it actually worked for a moment. Shinso looked over and spotted them, waving back with a rather bemused expression before turning back to face the stage. The crowd between them was thick, so it was unlikely they could get more than that.

"Aww, he's so far away," Kaminari pouted.

"He probably wouldn't want to be bothered by you anyway," she teased.

He directed the pout at her, but she only smiled in return. Then he grinned, throwing an arm around her neck. "You just want to have me all to yourself, I bet. Don't worry, Jirou. You don't have to share me."

She made a fake gagging sound as she pushed him away. "As if."

He laughed and she smiled in turn.

Her eyes drifted to the side, just able to spot Shinso in the crowd again. This was twice now, so she supposed they must have had similar taste in music. Just like last time though, she couldn't really see anything around him, so she couldn't tell if he was by himself or not. Somehow, she had a feeling that he was, though.

* * *

The next time that it happened, she was the one on stage. Her heart was pounding louder than Bakugo on the drums and she was more excited than even Kaminari, though she usually tried not to show it. There was something electric running through her.

She was surprised when, as she was looking through the crowd, her eyes found Shinso's and he seemed equally surprised to be noticed. But, for some reason, she held his gaze. Feeling the nervous energy brought on by the lights on her and the eyes on her, her own passion and excitement, and somehow seeing it reflected in his gaze. In everyone's gaze, but his were the ones she was locked onto for some reason. Perhaps it was seeing that usually stoic face lit up with a smile, seeing his eyes watching her every move on stage. Perhaps it was just her reacting to being the sole focus of his attention.

And she was, she could see that. His eyes didn't stray to anyone else on stage, despite being somewhat friendly with Kaminari, despite Bakugo being the wildest display, despite Momo being Momo right beside her, he was looking at her.

She sang in time with her heartbeat, fast and hard and loud. She read the lyrics in his eyes. The music was like a tether between them. Halfway through the song, he cupped his hands around his mouth and screamed in support of them, and she felt that scream all the way to her bones. When she sang her next lines, she felt like she was screaming back and sharing something secret in his smile.

Afterwards, when she rushed off stage, she was disappointed that she couldn't find him anywhere.

* * *

It only got stranger, more charged the time after that.

They ended up standing right next to each other at the next show. The crowd was more rowdy than she was used to and they ended getting pushed right into each other. They both seemed completely frozen at the sight of the other. They hadn't spoken at all since her show, but the same charged energy seemed to be lingering between them.

Almost at the same time they opened their mouths to speak, only for the crowd to surge and push them in wildly different directions.

"Hey, are you okay?" Mina asked her, looping their arms together so that they didn't get separated.

Jirou felt something swell in her throat as she searched the crowd for a flash of purple hair and came up empty. She swallowed it down and turned back to Mina with a weak smile. "Yeah, I'm fine."

She spent the rest of the show searching the crowd, but she didn't catch another hint of him.

* * *

The last time it happened, she was stuck with Bakugo of all people. It was supposed to be her, Mina, Kaminari, and Sero, but Sero had gotten sick and given his ticket to Bakugo, Mina had to pull out at the last minute, and Kaminari was late. This left her and Bakugo to stand grumpily next to each other until the show started.

It wasn't even that she disliked Bakugo all that much, just that they both had bad attitudes in different ways and one remark quickly turned into endless insults and annoyance. This was why they had opted to stay silent, Jirou letting her eyes roam the crowd while Bakugo stared angrily at his phone. The only time they really got along was on a stage and Jirou decided not to try to change what worked.

"So-sorry... I'm late," Kaminari said, out of breath as he ran up to them. "I had to pick something up last minute," he added with a large grin, pulling Shinso forward. Shinso was giving him an unimpressed look at being pulled, but he froze when his eyes landed on her. She was pretty sure she was doing the same thing, silently staring.

"Whatever, took you long enough," Bakugo snapped, putting away his phone. His eyes glanced briefly at Shinso, instantly dismissing him as he looked at Kaminari once more. "Why'd you bring this extra?"

"Shin likes this type of music and I didn't want Mina's ticket to go to waste," Kaminari answered. He was looking at the two of them like he knew a secret, but both she and Shinso decided to studiously ignore it.

"Tch, whatever," Bakugo replied.

She was pretty sure that she should say something, if only she could figure out what. Her tongue felt heavy in her mouth and the words felt lodged in her throat. She should at least say hi, but before she worked up the ability to do anything, the lights went down and the cheering of the crowd kicked up loud enough that he wouldn't have been able to hear her anyway.

It was only as she faced the stage, highly aware of how close Shinso was standing beside her, that she realized he hadn't said anything either. She felt the electricity surging between them again, but it didn't consume her as it had the previous times. It didn't take long for her to get into the music, for Shinso to loosen up, for them to stop paying as much attention to each other as they were the show.

Halfway through the show their hands brushed and her eyes immediately flew to his, looking back at her with as wide eyed an expression as she was wearing. He smiled at her somewhat sheepishly and something in that expression made her reach out and take his hand fully in her own. She felt her face heating up, her eyes dropping to the ground before she felt him squeeze her hand. He bumped his shoulder against hers and she found herself smiling as she looked back up at the stage.

Kaminari placed himself between them on the way out, wrapping his arms around both of their shoulders. "You guys hungry? Wanna grab something to eat?"

"Yeah," Shinso said.

"I could eat," Jirou agreed.

"Great!" Kaminari smiled at them brightly. "Bakugo and I are gonna head back early, but you two should enjoy yourselves." He waved as he ran away from them to catch up to Bakugo, who had already started walking away.

They both watched as Kaminari ran away and it was Jirou who finally spoke first. "He tricked us."

"Well, what do you know? I guess even he can be kinda clever sometimes," Shinso said.

They shared a laugh, but the nervous energy came rushing between them again almost immediately.

"As long as we're out here, we might as well eat, right?" Shinso asked. "My treat?"

"How could I refuse that generous offer?" she answered with a smile.

He offered his hand, a light dusting of red on his cheeks as he did so. Jirou hesitated, feeling her own blush spread across her face as she slowly reached out to take his hand. "Hey, I noticed we like the same music," she said softly.

"Yeah, I noticed that too," he said.

"How about next time... we go to a concert together?" she asked him. "Maybe... just us?"

Shinso smiled at her and squeezed her hand. "Yeah... I'd like that."


End file.
